Capped eyelet for attaching fastener members



E. W. SCOVILL ET AL CAPPED EYELET FOR ATTACHING FASTENER MEMBERS Filed Sept. 3, 1954 Aug. 2 1, 1956 2,759,237

n n n n n l INVENTORS Edgurw Scovill JeffreH Veillette BB #im ATTORNEY United States Patent Company, Waterbury, necticut Application September 3, 1954, Serial No. 454,158 1 Claim. (Cl. 24--216) and Jeffrey J. Veillette, to Scovill Manufacturing Conn., a corporation of Con- The invention relates to what are known generally in the trade as capped eyelets such as used for attaching snap fastener parts, buttons and the like, to a garment or other article to be fastened.

Such a capped eyelet consists of a barrel portion with a wide flange to which is attached a covering cap usually of dome shape.

During the eyelet setting operation where the eyelet is riveted into the fastener part there is required a substantial endwise pressure upon the eyelet which results in a marking of the cap itself. This is due to the heavy pressure concentrated at the base of the barrel against the domed cap. This has proven so objectionable that in many instances a reenforcing plate is interposed between the eyelet and cap. This, of course, is more expensive and more bulky.

The object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a two-piece capped eyelet in which the forces transmitted to the cap during the eyelet setting operation will be so distributed that no objectionable marking of the cap will result.

In the accompanying drawing we have shown for purposes of illustration one embodiment which our invention may assume in practice.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a central sectional view through a fastener attached to a portion of a garment or the like by means of our improved capped eyelet.

Fig. 2 is a central section showing the complete capped eyelet before the setting operation.

Fig. 3 shows the cap, per se, and

Fig. 4 shows the ilanged eyelet barrel.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a typical fastener member 5 which may be attached to a portion of a garment or the like 6, the fastener member 5 has a hole 7 to receive the end of the eyelet barrel 8, the end portion of which is riveted over by a bead'rolling operation against the fastener member around the hole as indicated at 8a.

Referring now to the eyelet before the setting operation as shown in Fig. 2, the barrel 8 is generally cylindrical and is joined to the flat anged portion 9 which extends at right angles to the barrel 8, and the connecting radius or corner 10 between the barrel and the llat portion 9 is made as sharp as permissible in the manufacturing operation.

The eyelet flange 9 terminates in an outwardly tlaring beveled rim 11 which initially, as seen in Fig. 4, is pref erably about 45 to the llat portion 9 and, of course, it extends in the same direction from the flange as the barrel 8. The cap itself as seen in Fig. 3 has a dome-shaped top 12 surrounded by a dependent skirt 13 which is curled around the beveled rim 11 as indicated at 14 sutliciently 2,759,237 Patented Aug. 21, 1955 to reform the beveled rim 11 and to attach the cap permanently to the eyelet. During this operation the beveled rim 11 assumes a somewhat smaller angle with respect to the flat portion 9, but still the only contact between the ilange and domed portion 12 of the cap is at the corner or juncture 15 between the beveled rim 11 and the flat flanged portion 9. This reforming of the beveled rim 11 during the cap assembly operation and the fact that rim l is held by the cap rolled edge imparts a constant upward tension to the rim 11 and a downward tension to the flange 9 acting through the juncture 15 as a fulcrum.

ln the manufacture of the flanged eyelet, per se, there is initially a relatively large radius between the barrel 8 and flange 9 and a later operation is performed to materially reduce the radius and also to work-harden the material adjacent the corner and also the material of the flange 9. During the eyelet setting operation when endwise pressure is applied to ,the tubular barrel 8 by the bead rolling operation, the load against the cap will initially be taken around the corner 15 which is spaced a substantial distance from the eyelet barrel. Then the ilat flanged portion will gradually come against the domed cap, but the load will continue to be distributed over the entire flat portion of the flange, especially since the material is relatively hard. The result is that no noticeable marking or deformation of the cap takes place.

The improved results ilowing from our invention can perhaps best be understood by a mention of what took place during the attaching operation before our invention. When the flanged portion was made to extend in somewhat the same curve as the dome-shaped cap and when such flange joined the barrel with a substantial radius the endwise pressure would collapse such radius and tend to move the adjacent portions of the flange and the cap away from the die contour. This resulted in a concentration of the pressure in the immediate vicinity of the base of the barrel with the result that there was a deformation of the cap showing the appearance of a ring on the outside surface of the cap.

We claim:

A two-piece fastener attaching member comprising a rivet eyelet and a cover cap, said eyelet having a tubular barrel joining a flat flange which initially extends at right angles to the end of the barrel and a rim surrounding said flange which extends outwardly and away from the plane of said flange in the same direction as said barrel, said cap being dome shape and having its outer edge secured to the periphery of the eyelet rim by a rolled bead and which bead grips the periphery of said rim with such force as to distort the rim upwardly from the original state and thereby impart a constant upward tension on the rim and a downward tension on the flange acting through the juncture of the rim and ilange as a fulcrum, said eyelet being supported against said cap at the juncture relatively close to the cap edge, the position of said juncture and the inherent tensioned forces in said rim and flange serving to distribute over a wide area and to cushion the forces imparted to said cap during the eyelet setting operation and prevent the marring of the cap dome.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,789,035 Carley Ian. 13, 1931 2,018,635 Carr Oct. 22, 1935 2,028,703 Hatch Jan, 21, 1936 

